Big Trouble etc.
Three years ago, the book Cocaine + Surfing: A Love Story (buy here) was released with its extremely controversial claim that surfing was likely born in beautiful Peru. Conventional wisdom had long been that our favorite dance grew in Polynesia and spread from there. Cocaine + Surfing posited since there were no native coca on any of the islands it is very unlikely that anyone would have had the desire to slide waves without the magic plant.
Smart.
Italian surf historian has just made an even more extremely controversial claim. Surfing, he says, did not begin in Polynesia nor Peru but rather China.
Nicolla “Nik” Zanella stumbled on his discovery in 2006 while visiting a Buddhist temple in Kunming in the southern Yunnan province. There he saw a 19th century bas-relief depicting a group of arhats, or those who have reached Nirvana, out amongst the waves.
One, in particular, stood out.
“The guy was standing up, his pose was exactly what we teach – back foot flat, front foot at a 45-degree angle, looking 5m in front of the board. And his face – he looked stoked,” Zanella told the South China Morning Post.
It was so captivating that he climbed down 5000 years of Chinese literature, finding Song Dynasty poet Zhou Mi’s work on the way. Zanella translates, “Hundreds of brave watermen … with unfastened hair and tattoos, holding coloured flags, race to the water … they paddle towards the oncoming waves … then they leap up and perform a hundred manoeuvres without getting the tail of their flags even slightly wet. This is how they show off their skill. Hence the nobles reward them with silver prizes.”
Very WQS.
The poem went on, “They gather in a group of a hundred, holding coloured flags, and compete in treading waves. They head straight to the river mouth to welcome the tide. Moreover, there’s some who tread on drifting wood … performing hundreds of water tricks, having fun, each displaying great mastery.”
Etc.
The brave watermen with unfastened hair and tattoos were not riding ocean waves, however. They were theoretically surfing the large tidal bore in Hangzhou later made famous by Jamie O’Brien.
Extraordinarily cool though begs the question.
Is surfing’s true love story with opium not cocaine?
Much to ponder.
One (of many) of Trump’s greatest achievements was coercing the vile infesting the left to expose their agenda. Saying the quiet part out loud. While America may be under attack from within at the moment, people on the left are beginning to see just how twisted the progressive agenda is, and how thoroughly inept their leadership is. Parents are getting PISSED at teachers unions and school districts for failing to reopen. The open disdain the powers have shown towards parents is out in the open. It shows exactly why Trump’s policy of school choice and more charter schools had the best interest of children and parents, especially minorities, at the heart of the policy.
The Founding Fathers knew problems with power hungry fuckers like Dems would arise. We have the safeguards to stop it. More people just need the courage to use them.
If anyone is spinning in their grave, it would be MLK. He had a dream that one day his kids would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Thanks to Progressives people must be judged by the color of their skin, again. MLK is spinning so fast in his grave right now that if you hooked up battery cables to him, he’d light up half the eastern seaboard.
That’s fucked man. Never heard a peep.
a well known love affair with prescription opiates
Arab traders brought opium to China around the 5th century, so your love story is still intact.
I hope you guys realise that this is just all part of the CCP propaganda where anything that paints China in a good light gets attention in the South China Morning Post. I mean kudos to the guy if he’s just spun them a line of shit and they swallowed it.
The origins of the Pacific peoples and their languages have been known for a long time, and with modern DNA sequencing it’s well proven that all Polynesians originate from Asia, and all Polynesian languages are very similar with obvious origins in S.E. Asia.
Just plain and provable truth.
Whether they surfed or not is open to debate, but they travelled and spread out across the biggest ocean in the world in craft capable of heavy weather.
And yes, the Ho brothers are a quarter direct Chinese, also part Polynesian (who originated in China), and part EuroU.S…
All true, which is why Chas’s (joking) assertion that Surfing began in South America is bogus.
However most of the “Asian” heritage in Hawaii is traced back to much more recent immigration to work in the plantations (I suspect you already know this). Cook and the Missionaries didn’t record any Hawaiians with the names Ho or Lopez, did they?
Yeah for sure
Though there’s always a Peruvian somewhere claiming those reed fishing ‘boats’ are the original surfboards haha.
(Never mentioned the plantation work immigration of the 1800’s as I thought that was common knowledge)
Cheers
I was surprised to find that the Maoris came to Enzed ‘only’ 700ish years ago, if wikipedia is to be believed.
Possibly as long as 850, depending on which study ya read…
Thats kind of the joke, it was a dig at Leo Fioravanti.
Michael Ho is part Chinese, and his brother Derek was the first part Chinese world professional surf champ…
Warning Beach Grit’s Ultra Hard Surf Candy may contain Lead.
Italians in China also created the watersport of Marco Polo.
This is an underrated comment… I LOLed!
The Chinese are now putting the cancel culture to task. A Chinese court just ruled that honosexuality can be classified as a mental disorder. The cancel culture should have their cannons loaded and primed. Question is, will firing upon Maoists be too friendly fire-ish for the cancel culture mob? I’d put my money on “yes”.
So many African, Asian, all Islamic countries, gay sex, illegal.
Govts still have Facebook, twitter accounts
You won’t hear it on mainstream media like The Guardian
Robespierre must be so proud of how far cancel culture has come since he first introduced it to the world.
I don’t know who that is but he sounds like a Dik.
He was. He wrote the cancel culture playbook, and his approach to power and keeping power undoubtedly remains something to admire by many on the left in power today.
https://lawliberty.org/our-…
History is doomed to repeat itself.
Can’t be helped, it’s a natural phenomenon.
That’s why the Founding Fathers were such geniuses. They saw what was happening in France and knew an armed populace would keep the Robespierres of the new world at bay. God bless the 2nd Amendment.
It’s must be comforting
Italian surf historian….oooook…… tell me more
As I posted above, Nik is a top bloke. A lord of the highest order. “Surf Historian” is just one of the feathers in his cap. He does a lot of good for the local surf community and the local community in general.
Duly noted mate.
Its surprising that this isn’t a well known fact given the long lived popularity of surfing within the Chinese community.
This is gold. Surfing History month with chas smith.
Old mate looks like he’s about to employ the double double hand drag and get seriously conned.
Explains them building islands and buying up Polynesia.
Not surprising really
Considering that all of Polynesia’s ancestors began the great eastward migration from the SW of Taiwan in surf-worthy sea vessels, and island hopped for a couple of thousand years before splitting up in Tahiti with some heading north to become the Hawaiians and some going south west to eventually identify as Maori in New Zealand.
Just well known fact.
The origin of all Pacific languages took the same adaptive route but hold origins in S.E. Asia thousands of years prior.
A direct wave riding connection to Mainland China is possible.
Heck, just look at Michael Ho, he’s about half Chinese.
Doubters would be those of a parochial and narrow minded nature.
Or Hawaiians without a Chinese surname…
So that’s why China wants to unify with Taiwan. Those poor bastards won’t last the year before being invaded.
The lesson from North Korea is get yourself some nukes and no one will risk the bloody nose from fucking with you.
*arsehats (ftfy)
The OG arseholes
This “Italian” surf historian….is he actually Italian or has he been on the road since the age of 9, and has lived in France, California, and Australia, gone to school at Huntington Beach and on the Gold Coast?
Hahaha fuck here we go with the labels again mate. Just kidding. I have no beef. You’re a good man.
Weird comment of the day.
Have you gone vego?
I wouldn’t piss on a fucken vego if they were burning. Watch your tongue cunt.
Go get that ironing done.
We’re behind.
Yeah yeah alright. Fucken slave driving cunt
Nik is definitely Italian and funnily enough has done time in a lot of those places (and many more) that you’ve mentioned.
When I lived in the Middle Kingdom I reached out to him after seeing a few posts of attention-worthy waves. He let me into the inner circle of his local surfing community, showed me a few spots, lent me a mal on a flat day (I borrowed a random, John Carper epoxy from a fellow expat in Shanghai) and shared the stoke with no strings attached.
His heart is in the right place. He’s a top bloke 👍
It wasn’t an attack on him, more so at Leo.
After re-reading your post that makes perfect sense ha!
It does bring up another point though: the plight and identity of the “Third-Culture Kid.” I guess that’s another discussion for another time!
Surfing true love story is with waves–drugs will destroy your life.
Or save it.
True, penicillin and other antibiotic drugs can save your life.
If Jebus didn’t want us to use drugs, his Dad wouldn’t have invented them.
From Hemlock to Nighshade, and mushrooms, there are at least 10 plants on this planet that can kill you,
so just because something is here on this planet, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for you.
Yet more evidence there is no God, what sort of a mongrel would subject people to deadly plants! That’s just sadistic.
Before Adam sinned, ( yes, I believe in creation) plants were OK to eat, but because of Adam’s sin some foods wouldn’t be good to eat such as poison ivy. Thorns and thistles are examples also. Poisonous plants were probably created because of Adam’s disobedience.
Yes, sin does have consequences.
But God has given us wisdom also, and we have learned to pick out what’s good to eat from what’s bad to eat, and he has given us free will also, to choose to do the right thing, or the wrong thing.
Sorry Sam, but you are truly intellectually challenged if you take all that as literal truth.
Or as a dear colleague of mine might say: “I have diagnosed you with being totally Fucked In The Head, mate”.
Psalm 14
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God”.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
How’d you get that photo of me Bexy?
You been stalking me?
JP let me borrow it.
That whole incest thing is a bit creepy. It has been handy reminding my female colleagues they’re only a rib though . That’s often quite well received.
What the hell dude are you serious?
Dude, I’m very serious.
You still ok with the Old Testament, or do you give it the old “oh but that was before Jesus” treatment?
Deuteronomy is a rollicking read.
There is a reason they call it the “New” Testament.
Sounds like evolution
You’ve made more room for the good guys in heaven.
Thanks bud.
I doubt room will be a problem. If Noah could get over 8 million species of animals, some the size of small cars on a wooden boat a third of the size of the Queen Mary, I reckon there will be plenty of room.
It was bigger on the inside.
Ha! “at least”.
Oh jeez. You’re a caution.
Oh and fungi are closer to animals than plants. Just sayin’.
Drugs save lives!
Also, I don’t what a “who tread” is but don’t dare edit a Chinese poet.